Naruto: Gods and Demons
by Lord of Daemons
Summary: The shinobi world is far older than anyone believes, watched over by forces beyond comprehension. Now, with the balance in danger these forces have need of a champion. And now, they've found one...A naruto mega crossover story! Dead-fic
1. Observations

A/N Hello readers, glad to be back after a long absence! I know not many of you people read my previous one-shot, so let me introduce myself I''m Lord of Daemons and this is my new story Naruto: gods and demons. This story is a Naruto crossover with Darksiders, overlord, Dante's inferno, too human, brutal legend, god of war, assassin's creed and whatever else I decide to add. This story has been brewing in my mind for a very, long time, but I've chosen to wait until now to publish it because I wanted to incorporate some elements from God of war ghost of Sparta. Rest assure readers I intend to finish this story unlike my last one. Also there are some other things I want to make clear, 1. There's a very good chance that some of my readers have never watched or read Naruto before so I'm going to explain some Naruto concepts in story. Anyone who does read or watch Naruto feel free to skip over them, just know I'm not insulting your intelligence or anything like that. 2. This was originally one chapter, but I decided to cut it into three because I realized it was getting long and unlike some writers out there I don't believe I have the skill to write such a long story and mange to hold my readers attention, so as a result the intro is kind of short but it will get longer eventually. 3. This is going to be a harem fic so stop reading now if you don't like those. 4 I'm not big on writing lemon scenes (maybe somewhere down the road) but for now don't hold your breath. Lastly I don't own any characters or concepts in this fanfic except any original ones I may come up with, and all rights belong to the original creators of the various games/ shows I may incorporate in here. Now then, let's begin...

"talking"

"_talking quietly/radio depending on situation"_

_line from book _

_'thoughts/telepathy'_

**Warning **

_**scene set up**_

"**Demonic speech"**

**'_Demonic thoughts'_**

_**A/N (author's notes)**_

**Prologue: Observations**

The multi-verse, that infinite all encompassing space in which every possibility either has or will happen. Here one may view two version of the same earth so vastly different from one another, that it's nearly impossible to believe that they are in fact seeing just two possible what if scenarios played out to their fullest extents. And yet in other parts of the multi-verse, one can view worlds that are so nearly identical to one another, that an individual may spend his or her entire life in futility trying to find a difference between them. And yet despite this there has always been a constant rule. And that rule is that the actions or inactions of individuals that alter not only their own fate but the very fate of an entire world.

Take for instance one child living on a particular version of earth in the multi-verse. Since the day he was born it seems the powers that be had conspired to screw the living crap out of him. On his birthday of October 10th , he not only lost his parents but gained the scorn and hatred of an entire village needing a scapegoat to take out their frustrations. For you see on the day he was born the a great beast called the Kyuubi no Yoko (nine-tailed demon fox), the strongest out of nine demons attacked his home the great ninja village Konohagakure. Though the shinobi tried there best to defend it, against the fox's onslaught they could do little but slow it down and, it ultimately fell to their leader the Yondaime Hokage ( 4th fire-shadow) Minato Namikaze to defeat it. In the end however, despite all his knowledge and skill, he had no other way to stop the beast from destroying his village but to give his own life to seal it away inside a vessel. A living vessel... to be more exact, a child by the name of Naruto Uzumaki.

Time passed, and as he grew Naruto was forced to deal with the repercussions of being the vessel for a being who had single handedly slaughter a good portion of the vessels populace all the while not knowing why it was his life was so horrid.

It's at this point that many unfamiliar with this tale ask how is it possible that he could have not known about such a massive detail of his life? The reason is rooted in a misguided attempt to help the boy, for you see upon the death of Minato, the village was forced to pull the old Sandaime Hokage (third fire-shadow) Hiruzen Sarutobi out of retirement. To honor the wishes of the 4th that the child should be viewed as a hero, the third Hokage told the villagers of the boy's purpose of being the host of the demon fox. Unfortunately this turned out to be a very poor course of action. Since the villagers could not directly harm the fox they instead took out their pent up frustrations on Naruto. This even included an attempted assassination of young Naruto before he could even speak. This incident prompted the Hokage to make a new rule which barred anyone from speaking about Naruto's "condition" to their children or anyone who had not heard the previous proclamation under pain of death.

And while at first this seemed to be an adequate enough solution, in the long term the child's life barely improved at all. Though the villagers were barred from telling their children about the young orphans status as the demon's jailer, they could still keep their children from interacting with him. Thus Naruto grew up a very lonely individual save for a few decent souls who were able to see the fact that the boy was the container of the fox and not the fox itself. These included the Hokage, a man who sold ramen and his daughter (I'm sad to say some of the few if not the only shop vendors to do so), a few of the shinobi and a small group of children. But though he was grateful for their company, the simple fact was it was never enough to fully satisfy him. Add to that the constant abuse and neglect courtesy of the other villagers and you can see why the boy was so dour on the inside. That is yet another rather tragic aspect of young Naruto's life. In an attempt to get any kind of acknowledgement from the people around him Naruto at a very young age began to wear a sort of emotional mask. More specifically the mask of the "class clown" or "village idiot". And so it was on a near daily basis that one could look out at the village and you would more than likely see young Naruto doing some sort of ridiculous antic just to get some attention.

This worked for a time, but when the novelty eventually wore off young Naruto turned his sights upwards toward the lofty goal of becoming the next Hokage, reasoning that if he became the strongest ninja in the village, people would have no choice but to acknowledge his worth. After all the ninja were highly respected given their abilities, especially since with few exceptions they could mold their bodies natural energies (chakra) into devastating attacks (known as ninjutsu or ninja techniques) or powerful illusions (genjutsu) which only those with similar abilities could escape. Even those rare few who could not do these things tended to have natural abilities far beyond what your run of the mill civilian or even soldier, could pull off. This power along with the fact a ninja clan (the Senju) had founded the village is what ensured that it was always the strongest ninja in the village who became their next Hokage. And so when the time came, he asked the Hokage to be placed in the ninja academy so that he could pursue his new goal. Had things played out as they did in the more well known version of this world, events would have occurred which in time would have allowed the child to find acceptance and happiness after a life of near ever present misery. And if this was that particular version of earth, certain higher powers would never have taken a particular interest in him. This however, is not that version of Earth. For you see in a place beyond space and time beings and forces far older than any other in existence are making a decision which is about to alter the destiny of young Naruto's life.

_**Somewhere outside the bounds of known reality**_

The room is straight out of of most sane people's ideas of hell. It is a cavern of some sort or so it would seem. In truth this is not hell, hell is much, much worse. In truth this place is more along the lines of a hollow stone sphere floating somewhere in the void somewhere beyond known or unknown reality. One thing is clear, it is a dark place lit internally only by pools of flowing magma illuminating a place of stone and fire and what looks like three demonic looking stone heads with glowing eyes. However it should be made clear that the idea that these beings are demonic is incorrect (though their actions may sometimes speak to the contrary). In truth these beings are far older than any mere demon or angel for that manner. They are known as the charred council, and they are in fact part of a group of pre-angelic beings known as the old ones. It is tasked to these beings the arduous job of maintaining the balance between the waring faction of heaven and hell. In the past, these beings did so via the usage of four individuals known as the Horsemen of the apocalypse. The horsemen where warriors without equals, god-like in their power and answerable only to the charred council and by extension the creator himself. However those days were long passed, now the council had no such enforcers, a poor series of decisions had left them bereft of their enforcers, whose powers now remained hidden over the world the council now watched over. This decision, made in anger when the horsemen had failed to protect their assigned world, had in fact allowed the same world to be destroyed and reborn multiple times, thus making it into the state it was now. Now however, the actions of individuals on said world were about to unleash a potentially even worse catastrophe. One which would threaten the very fabric of existence itself. And it was because of this that the council had convened to decide the appropriate actions as such.

"**Things are becoming dire" **said a booming voice it's origin apparently from one of the massive stone heads "**It was bad enough when there was a single human breaking the laws of nature. But now an entire group of such beings working together? We were fortunate that man came and prevented that...thing from tearing apart reality the first time, but now his bastard descendant plans to remake it and control it? And worse, he has manipulated an entire group of people into working for him, without them even realizing what ends they are working towards or who's actually in charge of them!**

"**Things are far worse than that brother," **Said a second of the stone statues** "In the past we could call upon the horsemen to stabilize the balance and deal with such fools. Now this world may once again be plunged into the fires of destruction and because of our lack of foresight we've lost our only tools to head off this even greater disaster. Now not just the sixth world, but all of reality is at risk and we have no champions to help. No wonder the creator lost his trust in us."**

"**ENOUGH" ** roared the up till now silent third head. "**this complaining about our situation accomplishes nothing, the answer is quite obvious, we need a new enforcer, one who can deal with this group before there goal can be accomplished. And we must get him quickly before these foolish mortals get a chance to enact their plan.**

"**But," **chimed in the second being** "a human even one armed with the powers of a horseman cannot possibly have the power to stand alone against these beings especially if our information about there leader associating with demons is true. Not to mention there's still the matter of that other human who broke away from them..."**

"**Your right brother" **interrupted the third being "**Under normal circumstances an ordinary mortal armed with even a horseman's power would not be able to fight these beings. Even one armed with the power of all the horsemen would be hard-pressed to fight these beings especially if they've reached their goal."**

"**Stop with this foolishness brother," **Interrupted the first again** "we all know you wouldn't have brought this idea up unless you had something planned."**

"**You know me too well brother. Like I said an ordinary mortal wouldn't have a chance, but I've found an individual who is far from ordinary." **

There was a flash of light and suddenly a floating sphere of pure energy appeared. At it's center a series of blurry images appeared, but they quickly cleared to show 3 images of what seemed to be a young boy of around 12 years of age with blond spiky hair blue eyes and what looked like 3 pairs of what looked like whisker marks on his face (3 on either side) much like a fox.

"**This child? **Asked the second incredulously, **Is this your idea of a joke because this is not the time for..."**

"**I can assure you this is no joke." **Interrupted the third again "**His name is Naruto Uzumaki, I stumbled across him while observing earth when that nine-tailed beast reappeared and have been keeping a close watch on him ever since. He may look like much but, as I'm sure your aware looks can be quite deceiving, especially where this child is concerned. Unknown to him and everyone who knows of him, there is within his blood lie powers not seen for eons. Currently they lie dormant but if awakened and combined with the powers of the horsemen they could be just what we need to tip the balance back towards it's proper alignment."**

"**Or they could tear the world apart!"** Roared the second "**Did losing the creator's approval drive you insane? Do you know what kind of risk we'd be taking if we were to do such a thing. Not only that but there's no way he could possibly handle that kind of power. And, besides if what I'm seeing is correct even if he could handle the power the people of his village seem to hate him with a passion ****and would probably kill him if he became too powerful****. ****Speaking of which, why is he so hated? ****I know these humans are irrational, but he ****doesn't**** seem to have done anything bad enough to draw such ire****"**

"**That is rather simple to explain." **There was yet another flash and suddenly the image was altered it showed a scene from years earlier, the image of Konoha in flames and the image a creature all too familiar to the charred council attacking the village. And then the image of a blond man, a series of hand gestures and in a flash the beast was gone, leaving only a small newborn...

"**He's...ONE OF THE NINE DEMON HOSTS?" **Roared the second "**YOU WOULD GIVE THE POWER OF THE HORSEMEN TO THE MOST POWERFUL OF THE NINE? YOU WOULD GIVE THEIR POWER TO THE VESSEL FOR THE MOST POWERFUL OF THE FRAGMENTS OF THAT THING?"**

"**Yes" **replied the third in such a calm way it stunned the other councilor into submission.

"**I know it my odd to you but my reasoning is quite sound. The fact he is the vessel for the nine tails has only convinced me this is the correct course of action."**

"**Oh really now and why is that?" **asked the first in a curious tone.

"**Because the ones who threaten the balance will eventually have to seek him out and in his current state there's no way he can possibly defend himself. However if we make him our new champion, we can as the humans say kill two birds with one stone. Correction, kill numerous birds with one stone. Not only will he be able to protect himself, therefor preventing him from falling into those beings hands, but with luck he can wipe them out thereby keeping their plan from coming to fruition. Add to that the fact that we'd be gaining a new champion and you can see why I would believe it to be such a valuable opportunity."**

"**But still, isn't it taking to much risk?"**

"**Every choice comes with risk you should know that. Besides if he gets to powerful we can strip him of his horsemen power, and then he can do nothing to harm us."**

"**All excellent points brother" **said the first being** "but you still haven't resolved the other previously mentioned issues."**

"**I was getting to that, as to the issues relating to his handling of the power, if we awaken his natural powers first and then gradually give him the horsemens' powers as he grows stronger and proves himself ready, he'll hopefully be able to adapt to the powers without problem."**

"**Hopefully?" **asked the first

"**Well, nothing in reality is ever a hundred percent certain, but judging from what I've seen and my personal gauging of his abilities I believe he can handle it. As for the issue of his village's hatred...well maybe it's time the boy had a change of scenery?"**

"**Hm, it's obvious you have thought this through" **said the first being** "But there is one thing I would like to ask before making a decision."**

"**Oh and what's that?"**

"**I can sense the boy has already chosen a path of his own, is it not wrong to force him against his will to sacrifice everything for our purposes? The creator made it very clear after some of our more...controversial actions that free will was something we had no right to interfere with unless it threatened the balance and I can sense this boy at the moment is no threat." **

The third being paused for a moment before finally answering

"**Given the damage that would result if we did not pursue this course of action I would think that in this case the ends would justify the means, however if you are still reticent towards this decision then I offer this, we will approach the child and offer him the option of being our new champion. If he accepts than so be it, if he refuses, we will wipe his memory of our meeting with him and send him back to his world none the wiser thereby ensuring there is no violation of his free will."**

There was yet another momentary pause as a decision was finalized and then...

"**Very well then, **said the first being **"I will support your plan brother".**

"**You can't be serious! **Screamed the second.

"**I am quite serious, and since all decisions must be decided my majority vote it seems you have no choice but to bear with it unless you have some other solutions to offer." **The second being was silent

"**Then it is decided, when the time comes, we will approach the child. For now...we wait."**

End Notes:

And so ends the prologue of my newest stories, I think it's pretty well done, but that's my own personal opinion. Feel free to review, I welcome criticism but flames will be deleted with prejudice. Also I'm looking for a Beta-reader send me a pm if your interested. And now for a little bit of necessary background info to help weave the various worlds involved in my story together...

_In the beginning/the first world:_

_Reading from religious texts it is very easy to get the notion that the devil and the war in heaven occurred after mankind had come about. That however is false, in fact if a person were to piece together the archaeological record of the elemental nations, they would find something rather interesting. Mankind not only existed before the mythical war in heaven, but strangely enough just seemed to have just appeared almost out of thin air. Many archaeologists have assumed that the fossil record is simply incomplete that the so called missing link hasn't been found yet. However, the truth is the biblical account of mankind being created is actually far closer to the truth, only it wasn't God who made mankind. In truth God did make the world and the universe as a whole but in the creation of mankind he served only to set the stage for another group. A small group of outcast scientists have uncovered evidence mankind was created by a group of beings who in fact came from another world. These beings have no known name of their own and thus have simply been referred to by the name appointed to them in ancient legends, those who came before. From what little has been found of them, however an image of a society far beyond that of anything mankind currently possess has been created. However, this evidence has been dismissed by more main stream scientists as fabrication or mis-dating of more recent technology. Ultimately, the only thing that could with 100% certainty prove these beings existence only exists in legend, the extraordinarily powerful technologies known as the pieces of eden. Rumors of these objects, (whose abilities are said to defy the laws of known physics) have yet to be substantiated but if they were it would be mankind's greatest discovery. What is known to those willing to listen to the story is this, mankind was created to be servants, but an enemy known simply as Ymir caused a war that would major long term consequences. While little is known of these beings, one thing can be said with absolute certainty about the Ymir, they were so dangerous that the only option to stop them was to unleash weapons so powerful they altered the very fate of the world and seemingly plunged the world into a era of ice and snow known as the Fimbulwinter. For survivals sake the survivors, both human and other banded together, commingled and eventually gave rise to the era known as the second world as well as a new group of mythical beings. The beings known as the Aesir... _


	2. Awakening

A/N Well people it's a miracle I've actually managed to write more than a single chapter to one of my stories. See what happens when your actually motivated to do something. Anyway, like I said last time I had to break up chapter one because it was so long if I waited to finish it it would take months. Like last time also, let me make it clear, since I'm sure there's probably some readers out there who maybe chose this story at random (I know I have) and have no knowledge of Naruto or the games/shows I'm going to be using, I'm going to be explaining some of the various concepts from the shows/games in the story itself, so please any fans of Naruto or any of the other shows/games I use in this story don't think I'm talking down to you or insulting your intelligence. Also please people review my story. I like writing it's true but I could just as easily write all this stuff down in a notebook and that would satisfy my "need" to write. Also I still need a beta-reader for my story so just send me a pm if your interested. Oh, also I'm going to use the English jutsu names except for a select few. As usual, I don't own any characters or concepts in this fanfic except any original ones I may come up with, and all rights belong to the original creators of the various games/ shows I may incorporate in here. Now then, let's begin...

"talking"

"_talking quietly/radio depending on situation"_

_line from book_

_'thoughts/telepathy'_

**Warning **

_**scene set up**_

"**Demonic speech"**

**'_Demonic thoughts'_**

(explanations/ Japanese name for jutsu)

_**A/N (author's notes)**_

Chapter 1 awakening

_**3 months later**_

It was another normal day for young Naruto Uzumaki, wake up in the destitute little slum of an apartment he called a home, try to find something not ramen to eat, pick out one of those bright orange eyesores of a jumpsuit (he did own more than that but he liked the color orange) perform a prank to try in an attempt to live up his day (in this case painting the massive stone monument with the faces the past Hokages as well as the face of the current one which took up a good portion of the nearby mountain's face). Then go to class at the ninja academy all the while avoiding making eye contact with the people around him on the trip thus avoiding the dirty glares they usually shot him. Take a test more than likely rigged by one of his sensei, get sent on a dangerous extra credit mission to steal a scroll so he can pass his final exam and then get attacked by the sensei who assigned him the missio...wait a minute... those last two aren't normal. Yes it seemed an ordinary day in the life of Naruto had turned into an extraordinary life or death struggle against a person he had thought he could trust.

He still remembered the series of events quite vividly. As usual things had not turned out well for him. As part of the final test of the year he was required to take a written test (which do to his failing of the final the last two times meant he been forced to repeat his final year) which upon taking said test he had promptly failed, which was odd seeing as it was the same as the last one he took (which didn't make any sense as he had handed the test out for his row and he was sure it had looked completely different from the test he had actually taken). And so like last two times he had failed the written test. Next came target practice, something he had actually done very well in scoring in the upper tier of scores for accuracy and speed. After that the hand to hand combat (or taijutsu if you want to be technical), in that he came in 4th but considering that the 3 he had lost against both came from clans who were known for their knack in close combat that was perfectly reasonable. Lastly came the bane of his existence the ninjutsu test.

The prospective shinobi or kunoichi had to perform three basic ninjutsu in order to pass the exam, those first was the henge or transformation technique, a technique where one person takes the form of another by manipulating their own chakra to project the outward appearance of said other person. The second was the replacement or kawarimi no jutsu where one quickly moves from one place to another whether just to travel quickly or to avoid an attack by replacing him or herself with another object. The third and final part was the basic clone technique or bunshin whereby the user created an exact duplicate of his or herself for use in confusing the enemy. Passing meant genin (rookie ninja) status, inability to perform these technique usually ensured failure unless one had done remarkably well on the previous tests.

This time Naruto was sure he was going to pass, he had been practicing all school year and he was not going to fail this test again. He did the necessary hand seals and performed the kawarimi technique flawlessly, and it seemed his previous hope of passing the test were coming true, but when he performed his henge he knew something was wrong when he only managed to transform into what seemed like a caricature of his chosen target the Hokage.

This was especially odd given the fact transformations had become a specialty of his and he had over the course of the year used them to perform numerous pranks (including one where he transforms into a very realistic version of a beautiful and nearly nude woman with the resulting shock of seeing it causing most men pass out cold ). However, by this point there was no way he could get out of completing to test short of perhaps faking a major medical emergency and given the circumstances there's no way anyone would actually buy that trick. In any case, with no way out he had no choice but to try his best. Which... judging by the rather pitiful state out of the single clone he managed to create out of the required three was no where near even the bear minimum of passing.

And so he had relegated himself to the certainty that he was doomed to repeat the last year of his academy again, when things took an unexpected turn. He had been sitting by himself outside the school right after the last kids had left with their parents, when one of his instructors a silver haired chunin (mid ranked ninja) named Mizuki approached him.

"Naruto-san I'm sorry you didn't pass the test today"

For once Naruto let his happy-go-lucky facade crumple to show something that the few people who had bothered to get to know him never seen, a coldness in those whose dreams had been quite utterly broken repeatedly.

"It's okay, I've kind of gotten use to failure, seems to be my constant companion..." He sighed, a mixture of anger and sadness flashing over his face. "But you know what takes the cake? You remember Sakura?"

"You mean the Haruno girl?"

Sakura Haruno was a young girl from a civilian family that Naruto had quite visibly been pinning over ever since she had joined his class. She was quite well known for quite a few reasons, the first was her long and unusually colored pink hair an unusual hereditary trait of her family (at least amongst the women), the second was her rather large...forehead something that no one dared mention in front of her less they bring to light her her other well known traits, that of her rather violent temper and her notorious ear bursting scream of anger. And of course her freakish (given her size), amount of strength which had on one occasion actually launched someone through a window.

"Yeah" said Naruto sadness overriding anger as the primary emotion on his face "that's her, anyways I left my backpack inside and when I went to get it I overheard her talking to her mom in the hallway, and...she just kept talking about how much of a failure I was, and how she thought I was annoying and never going to get anywhere, and how I must be some kind of brain-dead moron for not realizing that... she had no interest in me. Honestly, why did I ever try to bother to impress her, all she ever did was mock me, or slap me, it's not like she...she" and then the floodgates barely contained up till now, burst open and he just started silently sobbing into his hands. This went on for a minute or so, and then he felt a reassuring pat on his back.

"Naruto, Listen come with me there's something I wanted to talk to you about in private."

_**A few minutes later**_

The setting sun was beautiful that day a complete contrast to the storm clouds which seemed to hovering within young Naruto's mind. Mizuki had brought him up to a high point somewhere over looking the village below. There was an awkward silence between the two, then Mizuki turned to the blond.

"Naruto, I just want you to know this, Iruka-sensei is tough but he's not against you."

"Then why? Why does he seem to only be hard on me?"

"He wants you to be strong with all his heart, but that will never happen if he's soft on you. He's like you, no parents no fami...

"Save it!" Naruto said with an anger the silver-haired ninja had never heard before. "He's not like me... even if he doesn't have a family I know he never had to put up with half the shit I've been through. The stares, the people talking behind my back even when they know I can here them, people treating me like I shouldn't even exist. I really tried hard to pass that final and he acted like all that effort wasn't worth jack. And besides I doubt the girl he cared about ever talked down about him like Sakura did about me. I know he cares, but don't EVER compare him to me."

Naruto's outburst was so sudden so completely uncharacteristic of what the silver-haired ninja knew of the boy, that it took the man over a minute to think up an adequate response for what he just said. Eventually he just decided to come out with it.

"Naruto I'm sorry about what happened with Sakura, but you need to know this, she's wrong you can be a ninja. In fact, I'm not supposed to tell you this but there is a way to become a ninja without having to re-take the test."

"Really?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Yep, you see in a certain shack is a scroll marked forbidden..."

"Why's that?"

"Because it's full of high level techniques that most academy students can't handle. Anyways, the test goes like this, first you have to sneak into the building where the scroll is hidden, then once inside take the scroll without being caught. After that take the scroll into the woods, and once there pick a jutsu from the scroll. If you manage to do all this and can learn the jutsu by the time your examiner catches up to you you'll be granted ninja status on the spot."

"This seems kind of hard even for a final exam..."

"That's exactly the point, it's so hard that if you manage to pull it off it obviously means you know your stuff. Then it won't matter whether or not you know the academy jutsu. It's also why we're not suppose to mention this to any one but the person we chose to take the test. We only give this test to people who we believe have potential but who for one reason or another didn't get enough points to pass the regular final. In other words we only give it to those who we think can pull it off. And I think if anyone can pull it off it's you Naruto."

"Really?"

"That's right, so what do you say, will you take the test?"

Naruto was silent for a moment as he thought the offer over. The test did seem hard but if he could pull it off he would not only become a ninja but he'd be able to show everyone who ever doubted him wrong and that included his former crush. That's right former crush, after what she said about him earlier he realized he probably wasn't going to end up with his pink haired crush. And even if she changed her mind he wasn't sure if he wanted to be her boyfriend given what she said and what she had put him through over the years he knew her. All-and all there was no way he was going to pass up an opportunity like this, he was going to pass this test and become a ninja, and screw anyone who said otherwise.

"I'll take the test, when does it start and do I need to bring anything special?

"Come with me and I'll tell you what you have to do, oh one thing before I do that, you can't tell anyone about this test, not even Iruka-san."

"Why not Iruka? He's my sensei too."

"Relax Naruto, I know your close with him but it's part of the test, after all when you become a ninja your going to have to be able to keep a secret, sometimes even from the people you know. "

"Well, okay if you say so sensei. Yes! I'm finally going to be a ninja! Believe it!"

So happy was Naruto about his second (technically 3rd chance) to be a ninja that he failed to notice the evil smirk that passed over Mizuki's face. But while he didn't a certain group watching him did...

**Charred Council Chambers (same time)**

While all this was going on the council had been silently watching over there possible champion

"**It seems that are chance has finally arrived, we should approach him now before that traitor leads him into a trap." **Said the first being

"**No** ** not yet, soon though" **said the third

"**Hn..." **said the first

"**Something bothering you brother?" **asked the third

"**No, I was just contemplating the boys current situation is all" **said the first

"**Feeling sympathetic brother, your not getting soft on us are you?" **said the third

"**Sympathetic no... concerned yes, and why not this boy may soon be our champion is it wrong for me to feel concern towards his well being? Especially given his potential role in the universes fate. And as for going soft I can assure you that's hardly the case. No if there's anything I'm feeling it's anger. I now see the potential you saw in him and it angers me that someone would conspire to rob him of that potential instead of using it. What sort of half-wit is that silver-haired man, sabotaging his tests and what not was bad enough, now his actions may lead to his death. If he had any sense he would have manipulated him into a weapon for his master, not conspire to kill him."**

"**See his potential? **Mocked the third **"Hardly...if you had been watching like I have these last few years, you would know that something as simple as this fools hair brained scheme won't be enough to stop him" **

"**I still have my doubts about this plan though. He's far to young and inexperienced to face the potential challenges laid before him" **said the second

"**Hence the point of this whole plan, if given the proper tools and training he will be more than a match for what comes next or haven't you been paying attention to the plan?"**

"**I'll have you know that..." began the second**

"**Even so"** interrupted the first **"perhaps it is best that we step up the time table on our plan of action. It would be most unfortunate if he were to perish prematurely." **asked the first

"**Hm..." **said the third "**very well then we'll approach him tonight." **

The second could only grumble in response.

_**Nighttime same day...**_

Breaking into where the scroll was hidden was neither easy nor difficult. The actual task of getting into the building, had been easy enough, years of exploring, combined with his experience with pranking and escaping the resulting pissed off crowds had left him rather nimble, and so it had been fairly simple to climb his way to a hidden entrance on the building's roof thereby bypassing the security guards out front. However from then on out it was "virgin" territory as he had never actually entered the building due to the rather prominent warning as well as the building guards out front. The resulting booby traps effectively proved his concerns about the task at hand several times over. Especially when he nearly gotten himself run through by the various security measures. Eventually however he managed to grab the scroll and escape the building before the guards figured out what was going on, though he swore he had seen one of the guards out of his peripheral vision, he didn't pause for a moment to see if it was true. In any case Naruto reached the appointed meeting spot near an abandoned shack in a forest with time to spare and immediately set to work trying to find a jutsu for the "exam".

_'Let's see...wow these jutsu are all kinds of awesome, it kind of sucks that I can only pick one. Wait a minute... Mizuki-sensei said I only had to learn one, he never said I couldn't copy more than one down. And besides they could be really useful later on...the hell with it I'll just pick the easiest jutsu to learn and write the rest down After-all even if I'm breaking the rules it's not like there's anyone here to stop me.' _

After jotting down as many techniques as possible in a small notebook he carried, (usually reserved for his prank ideas) Naruto set to work on finding the quickest jutsu to learn. Which as it turned out was...the shadow clone technique. And while Naruto wanted to tear his hair out at the irony of it all, given the fact that some of the other jutsu apparently would take weeks of practice just to understand them, it's not like he really had a choice in the matter. It was either try and do the clone technique or have to repeat the entire year again. And so with some hesitation and trepidation he did the necessary hand seals for the technique, and concentrated. At first nothing, and then the familiar feeling of his chakra being brought to the surface and then...a clone! He had actually pulled it off! There in front of him was an exact copy of himself, only there was something about his clone that was different from the clones he had seen his sensei and fellow classmates create. The clones he remembered tended to just sort of pop or come out bad when he tried to make them. Iruka-sensei had said something about him overloading the clones with chakra. Which had never made sense to Naruto as he had always tried to put as little chakra as he could manage into them. Yet with this clone he had unintentionally put more chakra than he usually did when trying the technique and yet it had come out perfect. Furthermore there was the fact that this clone had some sort of weight to it seeing as it was bending the grass underneath it. When his sensei had first shown the technique out in the training field he distinctly remembered that the clone had neither made an impression in the grass nor when it was running had he ever heard it make footsteps.

Strange but these differences weren't important at the moment. What was important to him at least was making sure that his technique was correct so he could get a passing mark. And while he was glad he managed to pull it off, the fact is he didn't feel as if had actually done anything worth while. In fact he kind of felt stupid, if he could pull this clone technique off he should have been able to pull off the clone technique back at the final. Then there was the fact that he didn't see why this technique was "forbidden" it was just a clone. Years of self doubt and a track record of failures had made him slightly paranoid. What if this wasn't how the jutsu was supposed to work? What if he missed something in the scroll? He redid the hand seals again, and got the same result. He even checked the scroll again just to be safe.

_'Everything seems normal, wait, oh now I see there's a second more advanced part to this jutsu, the multi shadow clone technique Glad I caught that, before Mizuki showed up, would have kind of sucked if I failed because I had to do both parts and couldn't pull it off.' _

And so he once more set to work...

_**Konohagakure Hokage's chambers, same time**_

Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a really bad day. The village ninja were in an uproar. One of his jonin (high ranked ninja) reported that someone had broken into the storage area for some of the villages most dangerous techniques. On top of that the perpetrator had apparently made off with one of the most dangerous scrolls there is. And what's worse, the evidence seemed to support that the boy he cared about like his own grandson was involved in all this. But that didn't make sense, Naruto had always been mischievous it's true but he had never done anything hurtful or outright malicious. In fact the only time he remembered him stealing anything was the day he had stolen food from one of the vendors in the market. And even that had turned out to be justified, as the man in question had been grossly overcharged Naruto for some time prior. Something he ensured would never happen again thanks to a little visit from his elite Anbu ninja. Regardless, the fact remained that this wasn't the same as a hungry young boy stealing food, that was understandable. This was a serious crime, a crime that was punishable by execution. He couldn't let that happened, there must be some reason as to why Naruto had done something like this. The last time he had seen Naruto, he hadn't given any indication that he was gonna do something like this. But, maybe there was someone who did know why. Quickly running through his mind all the people he believed Naruto would have confided into, (a fact that was made easier he due to the sad fact that it was quite short in length) he sent a group of Anbu to track down the people on the list and bring them in. He just hoped he could figure out why Naruto had done this, before his advisors went over his head again. He wouldn't let that happen, not after what happened the last time...

_**Several minutes later, the forest**_

Mizuki was nearly beside himself with glee only the necessity of stealth in the situation prevented him from bursting out in maniacal laughter as he moved from tree to tree. It had been so easy,the boy was so eager for attention, so eager to please, so determined to do whatever it would take to reach his goals (something he admired about the boy though he refused to admit it). All it took was a little deception, sabotaging some of his tests, and a few words of encouragement and the boy was willing to go charge through hell itself to please. The gaki was the perfect patsy, easily manipulated good with breaking into places (some of the boys pranks were proof of those skills), and nobody would shed a tear if he just "disappeared". And now that he tricked Iruka into going after the boy his reward was even sweeter. He would eliminate Iruka when he caught up with Naruto, then kill the kid and plant some evidence making it look like Naruto had done the deed. He would get rid of the two people he hated without cause for worry and as for the scroll...well, he would let the other ninja figure out what happened. But by then it would be long gone, and then it would be sayonara leaf village, hello cushy life of luxury courtesy of his real boss Orochimaru.

_**Same time, different part of the forest**_

Naruto was beat, it had taken multiple tries and nearly all his chakra, but he had finally pulled off the multi shadow clone. Now he just had to wait for Mizuki-sensei to show up. He waited, and waited, and waited but still nobody came. Now he was getting worried. Mizuki should have shown up by now.

_'Did I go to the wrong place, or was I late, or...'_

His little bout of paranoia was interrupted by the sound of something moving through the shrubs behind him. He turned fully expecting to see Mizuki, only to be shocked by the appearance of his other sensei Iruka.

_'Why is Iruka here? I thought Mizuki was supposed to...oh! Back in the academy they always said expect the unexpected. This must be part of the test!'_

"It's all over Naruto" Iruka said a hard edge to his voice. Iruka expected a lot of thing at this point. Begging, pleading, crying, but not laughter.

"Hehehe...caught me already not bad, your quick sensei. I only had time to learn one jutsu"

_'He's been out here practicing?' _ He thought in confusion '_And by the looks of it he's really been working hard.'_

"Listen sensei, I know your supposed to test me and every thing, but can you give me a minute to recover I'm almost out of chakra and..."

"Test you? Test you on what?"

"You know, I learn a jutsu from the scroll by the time you come here to test me and if I can do it you make me a genin."

"Huh? Where did you get that idea?"

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it. Believe it! He told me how to find the scroll and this place..."

_'Mizuki!' _

The shocked look on his sensei's face told Naruto all he needed to know. Something was horribly wrong. And then without warning a hail of kunai flew towards the two, Iruka barely managing to push Naruto out of the way before getting knocked back and pinned to the wall of the nearby shack. The source? The crouched form of Mizuki in the tree.

"Looks like you find our little hideaway." said the silver haired chunin

"So that's the way it is!" Iruka managed to gasp out in between bouts of pain.

"Naruto! Give me the scroll now!" called out Mizuki

Naruto's mind was reeling at the scene playing out before him. One sensei wounded and bleeding out in front of him, the other staring at him ominously. It was so overwhelming he barely managed to choke out his response.

"Wait a minute! What...What's going on here?"

"Naruto! What ever you do don't let Mizuki get the scroll! It's full of forbidden jutsu that could put this whole village at risk! He used you to get the scroll for himself, for his own power!"

A mixture of shock and anger flashed through Naruto's mind at the information he just learned. Of course like the traitor he was Mizuki tried to cover his true intentions up. Fully expecting Naruto to buy into his charade.

"Naruto Iruka's just trying to scare you because he doesn't want you to have the scroll...

"BULLSHIT!"

Needless to say that was hardly the response the chunin was expecting from the boy. However the reason for this outburst became quite obvious upon closer examination. Namely the fact, that in trying to pin Iruka to shack with his kunai Mizuki had inadvertently nicked the boy. The fact there was blood coming from his wound proved Mizuki was using very real and very deadly ammo and that was all the evidence Naruto needed to prove he was up to no good.

"It all makes sense..."

"What?" asked Mizuki slightly confused by this turn of events.

"I knew there was something wrong with those tests, you rigged them so I would fail. Oh sure the written test and the clone jutsu I could have believed but not being able to pull off the henge jutsu? Did you honestly didn't think something was wrong when I couldn't pull off my best technique? Now it all makes sense, you've been lying to me all this time you...you manipulative lying ASSHOLE!"

There was a pause silence reigned over the clearing and then a smirk passed over the silver-haired traitor's face as he straightened up in the tree.

"Ku,ku,ku...well now Naruto, I guess I underestimated you. Your not as dumb as I originally thought. You know, since your so smart and all I guess that means you've figured out why it is everyone in this village seems to hate you so much?"

Naruto's angry look faded from his face instantly replaced instead with one of confusion

"Oh.. too bad and here I thought you actually had a brain in the space between your ears. Guess before was just a fluke. Oh well, might as well tell you seeing as I doubt your beloved sensei Iruka is going to tell you..."

"NO MIZUKI IT'S FORBIDDEN!" screamed Iruka in a panicked voice while at the same time he tried to unpin himself from the shack"

"He's right you know" Said Mizuki in a mocking tone "it is forbidden ever since the decree 12 years ago."

"Decree? What decree?"

"Heh, the decree is...that no one can tell you that the nine tailed fox is inside of you!"

The look on Naruto's face was an odd one, not sad or surprised, or any thing like that. It was, blank for lack of a better expression. Maybe it was shock at what he just heard, maybe it was his chakra exhaustion maybe both either way the fact remained that his expression was completely illegible at the moment.

"That's right gaki... the beast which killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body! You are the nine tailed fox! Everyone's been sneaking around behind your back and lying to you your whole life! Didn't you think it was odd the way they treated you? Like shit, like you didn't deserve to be alive? In fact the whole reason the decree was passed in the first place was because someone tried to do the smart thing and kill you before you could become a threat!

"STOP IT MIZUKI!" Screamed Iruka doubling his efforts trying to get free.

"And that's why..." said Mizuki as he reached behind his back" ...you will never..." he said cocking his arm back "...BE ACCEPTED IN THIS VILLAGE NARUTO! NOW DIE FOX-BRAT!" He said throwing the massive shuriken in his hand towards the paralyzed boy. Once again however things were different from the more well known version of this world. There was no attempt to dodge, no Iruka breaking free at the last minute and jumping in the way of certain death, nothing. Those familiar with the tale may asked at this point "why are things different?"

The reason has to do with something quantum physicists know to be true. In physics, more specifically those related to quantum mechanics, there is a phenomenon which still baffles modern physicists. That phenomenon is that the act of simply observing an experiment will alter the outcome of the experiment. The same as it turned out (at least in this situation) turned out to be true. By observing the events at hand the charred council had inadvertently changed the course of events.

And as it turned out, they weren't done with altering events, what happened next proved that. For as Naruto watched the oncoming approach of certain death, everything seemed to be slowing down, slower, and slower, and then...it all stopped. The massive shuriken seemed to be hovering in mid-air unmoving, the expression on Mizuki's face frozen in an expression in joyful anticipation at what was about to occur, much like how a child is right before he opens a Christmas present. Iruka expression too was frozen only his was one of horror, his mouth open in a silent scream. And then there was a flash of light, and everything went blank.

_**Charred council's chambers**_

Naruto opened his eyes, something which confused him since he hadn't remembered shutting them in the first place. However whatever place he was it was dark, the only thing he was able to tell was the fact that the ground he was sitting on was hard. Then without a sound, a light appeared directly in front of him. It took the form of an orb before slowly expanding to and flattening out to form a screen of sorts. On said screen was a very familiar scene, there was Mizuki, Iruka, the giant shuriken in mid flight, and...himself."

"What the hell is going on!" His voiced echoing off the cavernous space surrounding him.

"**We, can explain that"**

Suddenly the room seemed to heat up and the room was filled with a ruddy glow. The glow appeared to becoming from three pools filled almost to the brim with what looked like molten lava. Then the pools bubbled upwards and then something rose from each of the pools. When they finally rose out of the molten fire Naruto was finally able to make out what they were. What he saw scared the living crap out of him. Three demonic looking heads made of stone with glowing soulless eyes pools of fire and magma bubbling out of their mouths.

"What the fu..."

"**Watch you mouth boy" **said one of the heads in a deep, booming and at the same time almost gurgling voice, at the same time a plume of magma and fire seemingly shooting out of the mouth of that being. So unexpected was the voice that Naruto ended up launching himself backwards to get away from it and ended up falling flat on his ass. A couple seconds later when it seemed that the giant evil looking head wasn't going to eat him Naruto managed to choke out a meek "y-yes sir". A moment later the imposing voice continued.

"**Calm yourself boy, we mean you no harm. We are the charred council, guardians of the universe, keepers of the eternal balance. And we have come to give you, an opportunity."**

Intrigued and somewhat calmed from the beings earlier words, Naruto picked himself off the floor and cleared his throat. Then attempting to keep the nervousness out of his voice

"What kind of of o-opportunity?" Needless to say he failed quite miserably.

"**You see boy..."**

"N-Naruto"

"**What?"**

"M-my name is N-Naruto Uzumaki not boy"

"**Very well, Naruto. It seems we have a bit of a...situation which we believe you could be of assistance in solving"**

"**Enough of this dancing around the issue brother, just tell the lad already!" **said a voice emanating from a different head.

"**I was about to, until you interrupted"**

"You know if this is a bad time I could just...

"**Your not doing anything. Now, getting back to what I was saying, for the past several years we have been watching your world with a bit of concern. There are several individuals whose actions could potentially lead to the destruction of your world. We believe you are the key to opposing there plans"**

"What! But, if that's true what can I do? I'm just a kid!"

"**SILENCE! You will ONLY SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TOO UNDERSTAND?" **roared the second being.

"**Brother calm down he's just a child." ** said a third voice

"**Exactly my concern, I warned you there's no way the boy could possibly posses the will to confront the challenges ahead! Just look at him, if it wasn't for the fact he was here mentally and not physically he probably would have soiled himself!"**

"**That's a little har..."**

"Could you people stop talking like I'm not here and just tell me what's going on?" Screamed Naruto anger overcoming whatever nervousness and fear he had left in him. "Why the hell did you contact me and what the hell do you mean I'm here mentally? How can I be here and not here at the same time?" he said while pointing to the floating image. "If you just came here to confuse the hell out of me then it's working, otherwise could you JUST FUCKING EXPLAIN WHAT'S GOING ON!" And for a moment just a moment if one were to look through the eyes of the council, they could have sworn they saw the images of other beings. The image of a law bringer, of a god slayer, of a demon, of a god, and numerous others. And this brought a smirk to the face of one of the council (or at least a close approximation given they can't move their lips and all). In any case it was enough to stop the council's bickering for now, and after a moment they continued.

"**Well now, finally some order" ** said the first being. **"To answer your questions, like my brother said before, your only here mentally. Think of this as a different plane of existence which only your mind can access unless otherwise permitted. While here time has no relevance, hence why the image before you is frozen unless we allow it to advance. In here, we have absolute control. **

"Okay that somewhat answers my questions, but what about why I'm here." any remnant of the fear he had felt now forgotten.

"**Like my brother said before" **continued the third a tone of pride creeping into his voice . **"We believe you are the key to stopping these fools before they destroy everything, and we can give you the means to do so. We can not only offer you training and weaponry far beyond what most in your world can imagine, but we can also offer something I'm sure you'll be excited to here about. In your blood lies dormant powers not seen by your world in eons, think of them as, what was that word you humans called them? Ah yes, kekkei genkai. Currently these abilities lie suppressed due to the dilution of your families bloodlines over the years. However, we posses the means to reawaken and enhance these abilities."**

"Bloodlines? You mean as in more than one?

"**Correct"**

"Awesome! Let's see them Sasuke-teme call me dobe when I show off my new abilities" said Naruto happily. Sasuke Uchiha was Naruto's rival (at least that's what Naruto claimed Sasuke couldn't be bothered) a black haired child who was quite popular amongst the young girls of the village including Sakura (something Naruto had been envious of) and who also had the distinction of being this year's rookie of the year. He hailed from the once seemingly powerful Uchiha clan something which had more than once been rubbed in Naruto's face by his mob of fan girls. Once powerful, because they had been essentially eradicated by Sasuke's elder brother Itachi for reasons known only to the highest members of Konohagakure's brass (current Hokage included). Seemingly because while their kekkei genkai the sharingan had helped make Konoha powerful it also lead to a certain level of distrust which will be addressed at a later time. In any case all thought of rubbing his bloodlines in Sasuke's face were quickly cut short by the rather harsh reprimand that followed.

"**Fool! Just because your born with an advantage over others doesn't make you any better than them! The fact is while your bloodlines' abilities may be suppressed they are not entirely inactive, yet you still couldn't pass the academy final. And before you pull the "I was sabotaged by my teacher" card the fact is he's only been sabotaging you this past semester! If you had you applied yourself the time before that, or the one before that, instead of slacking off and pulling pranks you wouldn't have had to deal with all these problems in the first place!" **said the second being.

And for once, Naruto had nothing to say. He could only sigh and hang his head. He knew they were telling the truth. If he had applied himself from the beginning, maybe none of this would have happened and then he and Iruka wouldn't be in this me...wait a minute...Iruka! He had completely forgotten!

"Gah! I have to get back!

"**Naruto..."**

"Look it's cool that you told me this and all but if I don't hurry and get back Iruka will be kill..."

"**Dammit boy, how short is your attention span! I told you time has no relevance, and besides what are you going to do if you get back? Your chakra is depleted, and even with your regenerative abilities it will still be far too late to save your sensei. **Said the second.

"Wait, you mean what Mizuki said is true?"

"**Not entirely" **Began the third** "the fox was sealed inside you that part is true, however the part about you being the fox is a lie. Despite the villagers misgivings you are the jail not the prisoner. And before you begin to worry, know that it is safely sealed away. In fact at the moment the fox is sleeping, the only thing it can do to affect you is give you some of it's chakra. That may not seem like much, but know this, there is a small amount of this chakra naturally leaking and intermixing with your own. It is for this reason that you not only have such high chakra reserves, but also have such difficulty in controlling the amount. This has lead to you possessing an unusually high metabolism for your age."**

"Wait I remember this from the academy, doesn't a high metabolism mean high energy reserves?"

"**Hm, ****maybe**** your ****attention span is bigger than I thought it was****." **Mocked the second** "Partially true, it does mean high energy reserves, which is why you tend to be hyperactive. However with enough discipline (something which you are dreadfully short of I may add) it can be overcome. ****There are however ****two ****things which**** can't be controlled ****at present****, ****the first is ****your appetite which is far beyond what most children or even adults posses, ****it's a trade off for both your increased energy**** and the ****second of the two factors I mentioned, ****a natural****regenerative factor which ****has been further augmented thanks to**** the fox. And don't play dumb, you**** must have noticed ****it**** given the number of injuries you've incurred." **

At this Naruto visibly twitched at, it was true he had suffered quite a few injuries over his short life, however it should be made clear that besides that one assassination attempt when he was an infant he had never really been hurt by the villagers. Not that they hadn't tried, however even though the Hokage had been unable to prevent the verbal and emotionally abuse, he had been successful in preventing any real harm by the villagers, excluding the occasional slap or shove by his former crush (something he mentally noted will never happen again) and the occasional booting out of a store when he stood around not buying anything. No, in truth most of injuries were either accidental (like the time he broke his leg while trying to outrun an angry group of academy teachers) or...intentional, something that hadn't happened since he joined the academy at age 8 and made friends with his teacher Iruka.

"**Now that we've cleared all that up, I believe it's time to present you our offer" **Began the first, at this Naruto straightened up. **"As we mentioned before, your world is in danger, unfortunately our ability to interfere has been limited by certain events which, are not important at the moment. What is important is this, if you agree to help us we well give you what's needed to defeat all who stand before you. If not, we will simply alter both your memory and any who might observe your new abilities at work. It will be as if all this never happened."**

"**We know this is a difficult choice to make," **continued the third "**and that is why we will give you time to mull this over. To be exact, midnight 2 days from when your mind returns to your body."**

"That's great and all all but that still brings up the question of what happens when I get back to my world, like you said I'm out of chakra and judging by that image over there about 10 seconds tops from getting my head chopped off. And then there's still the question of what exactly will you be getting out of this?" Naruto asked incredulously " You guys don't seem to be the kind, to well you know, give stuff away for free."

If he could have looked into the minds of the assembled beings Naruto probably would have been shocked at the surprise going through the head of the second being, and perhaps if his mind hadn't already categorized said being as a complete douche-bag, he would have noticed the slight hint of respect underneath the beings next words.

"**Well now, it seems it wasn't just your true feeling you were hiding behind that mask of yours. You can be rather quick when it suits you. If only you let it out more often, you'd be a force to be reckoned with. Getting back on topic though, yes it's true your in a bit of a rough spot. And that is why we're going to do something, special just for you." **

Naruto understandably was slightly terrified at that piece of information. After all when a giant floating demonic looking head, looks at you and say the word "special", well it doesn't exactly bring up pleasant images.

"**What we are going to do for you is this, when we send you back we will not only fully charge your chakra reserves, but we will also give you a proverbial taste of the powers that will come out of our arrangement. If you enjoy them, then perhaps you will come accept out offer"**

"That still doesn't answer my other question, what's your stake in all this?"

"**You mean besides the fact that if you refuse and those people succeed, everyone in the greater multi-verse including ourselves dies a rather horrific death? **Mocked the second furthering Naruto's belief in said being's status as a complete douche-bag.

"**Simple while you are alive, you will still posses free will to an extent, you will essentially be able to do as you please except in cases of relating to the successful resolving of this situation. But when this is all over, and it comes time for you to be judged, instead of moving on, you will be reborn as our enforcer."**

"So basically I become the guy who has to do all your dirty work."

"**A crude way of putting it but essentially correct.** ** Now if there's nothing else, we ask you this, are you ready to be sent back?"**

There was silence and then after a moment, Naruto finally answered. "I get to try out the power now, no strings attached?"

"**No strings attached"**

"Then send me back, I don't care what it takes or if it hurts. But if you screw me over, Kami help you cause I'm coming back and kicking your stone plated asses."

"**Now that," **mocked the second **"is something I'd like to see you try"**

Suddenly the council's eyes began to glow and Naruto felt himself rising into the air, then there was another unbearably bright flash, and he was gone.

_**Forest clearing (exact same moment)**_

The massive shuriken flew through the air. It's purpose to inflict harm to it's target, it's target the blond boy standing still, his gaze blank, his face down-turned as certain death flew towards him. Only it wasn't certain, suddenly the Naruto's head snapped back violently and then right before the shuriken could impact there was a sudden flash of light and a blast wave of some sort launched the shuriken sideways embedding it into a tree. The eyes of all those watching this scene were wide with surprise and wonder as waves of dark energy seemed to cascade off his body. Naruto's eyes were also wide but for quite different reasons. Images flowed through his mind, scenes of people and battles long passed, images he had never seen before nor could have remembered, yet remember them he did.

He saw people fleeing nimbly from roof top to roof top something glowing clutched in their hands. A flash and he saw a man with glowing blue scars on his face cleaving apart an army of strange metal beings. Then a man with long black hair and demonic bat wing appeared, bisecting undead enemies in two with a massive ax before pulling out a strange instrument and blasting them all back with a sweet power chord. A beautiful woman then appeared in the same scene, jet black hair flowing down her back a pale complexion reflected in the moonlight combined with a pair of ebony wings which held aloft would make many think her a benevolent angel, were it not for the army of undead which she raised against the previous man. A flash and an image of a different man appeared, one with white skin and a large red tattoo cleaving monsters apart with 2 burning weapons all while a rage rivaling the greatest of demons blazed in his eyes. He saw a knight with a strange symbol literally sown into his chest impaling an enemy with what looked like a spear, only for it to transform into a double edged scythe and slicing apart the demons around him. He saw a man in a white hooded robe chasing after a fleeing figure from roof top to roof top before finally taking him down with a well placed shot from a hidden weapon. And then one final image appeared, this of two individuals a blond man who he seemed to remember seeing fairly recently (though he couldn't place where or when), and a woman with red hair who's image stirred something at the deepest recesses of his sub-conscience mind, standing against ninja of various nations. But whoever these people were, one thing was certain, they were fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds, but what shown on their face wasn't either fear or panic, it was what any animal who's cornered feels, a feeling which Naruto now felt flowing through his whole body...rage. All through this the Mizuki and Iruka could only stare at Naruto as the boy's head turned to face the silver haired chunin. A massive seething mass of anger and fury burned beneath his blue eyes for a moment, and then with a roar he charged...

End notes:

Well that about wraps it up. Sorry there was no fight scene but I figured it's about time to post something, and the fight scene and it's immediate aftermath would have added an extra five pages and that's too much for a first chapter in my opinion.

_The second age:_

_After the fall of Those who came before, and the coming of the Fimbulwinter mankind found itself in dire straights, though the Ymir had been dealt a mortal blow thousands of years before their automated war machines continued to fight on. Combined with the new difficulties associated with living in a world trapped in a seemingly perpetual ice age and it seemed that mankind was quite thoroughly screwed. Hope came in the form of a single brilliant individual, Odin. Odin was the first individual to combine cyberspace manipulation and advanced science to create the runes which endowed people and weapons with incredible powers and helped to hold back the tide of machines. But his greatest work was to come, Odin was able to decipher the tech of those who came before and by combining it with the advanced genetic engineering created a race of warriors without peer. These were the Aesir. And for a time it seemed that mankind would defeat the machines and reclaim there lost glory. However tragic mistakes were about to occur. In an attempt to better understand the forces of Ymir, Odin hybridized the most advance Aesir tech with some of Ymir's most powerful weapons, the JOTUN class war machines. The result was the being who would be the bane of the Aesir, Loki. At first it seemed Loki would be the key to Aesir victory, however something changed him. Some accounts say he went mad, either from simple the simple tragedy of his own life, megalomania induced by his own powers, or that the cybernetic implants were inherently unstable to begin with. Other accounts say that he may have in fact been manipulated, but the accounts are vague as to who could have done such a thing. One thing is clear, the final straw which led to Loki's final betrayal of the Aesir was the banishment of his daughter Hel to the realm that would eventually bear her name Helheim. Sickened by the diseases of the polluted land but still strong enough to pose a threat to the Aesir Hel made an agreement known as the pact of the fallen to gain the corpses of those who died dishonorably or naturally for experimentation so as to prolong her ever shortening life. Infuriated by his daughter's condition and her banishment, Loki took his revenge on those who took away his favored child by taking away the most favored of the Aesir, Baldr. Loki first set off a bomb in the halls of the Aesir, and then sabotaged the optical implant of the Aesir Hod, making him believe he was fighting against the Ymir when in fact he was fighting against his own. And the final blow he thought dealt against the traitorous trickster was in fact dealt... to Baldr. Devastated by his death and unwilling to allow his corpse to be claimed by Hel (as Baldr had been killed outside of honorable combat) the Aesir launched an assault on Helheim reclaiming his newly revived body preventing his transformation into one of Hel's servants at the cost of breaking the pact. During this battle it became obvious that Loki had been involved in this, but because he had not directly done the murder they could not execute him. So instead they imprisoned him beneath the tower. But this act was not to be forgotten, years later Loki escaped with the help of some human followers. The Aesir pursued him and eventually launched an assault on Helheim only to discover Loki long gone. After killing Hel and launching a nuclear strike to clear out the majority of the undead, the soldiers returned home to a celebration of the victory over a dangerous threat. That celebration turned out to be premature as Loki was only getting started. Loki launched a combined assault spearheaded by a combination of undead remnants, numerous Ymir machines, a group of reawakened JOTUN class war machines and most terrifyingly of all, the monstrous mile long submersible Devastator class war machine known as JORMANGAND. And so the final battle to determine the fate of all mankind was fought. The battle forever known from then on as Ragnarokr (the doom of the gods). In the end few of the Aesir survived, great Thor sacrificed himself to destroy JORMANGAND, Loki forced his way past noble Baldr knocking him out and stealing his weapon Fenris before using it to end Odin's life. Discovering this noble Heimdall enraged by what had transpired fought Loki one on one ultimately giving his life to end the madman's life. Ultimately only humanity, and a select few of the Aesir (including Baldr) would survive. As to what happened to these beings or there legendary weapons, no one is certain. The fact remains that there sacrifices allowed mankind to survive the battle. But surviving the still raging Fimbulwinter and ushering in the third world would require assistance not from on-high but from the fires below and a battle whose ferocity would surpass even Ragnarokr..._


	3. Aftermath

A/N Hello again I'm back and I'm happy to see so many reviews (note sarcasm). Seriously people could you please review. Positive or negative reviews it doesn't matter, any reviews I get are helpful (unless they're flames at which point they will be summarily deleted). Anyway, after some thought, I've decided to stick with the translated Japanese jutsu names with an occasional English name because frankly it sounds cooler. Certain Japanese phrase will be used interchangeably with the English equivalent like "kuso!" and "shit!" depending on the situation. Expect to see the previously posted chapters revised to meet this new philosophy over the next couple of days. I would also before I begin like to thank my friend Dracohalo117 for his support, jutsu ideas, and assistance (and as an apology for making him wait). Please go read his fics some are pretty good. And lastly I would also like to mention the various Naruto fic challenges which will be used in this story albeit in a modified form (most notably the Naruto hates Yondaime, Naruto quits, and Kage Bride challenge). As always all rights to the characters, shows, and games used in the course of this story belong to their respective owners I'm just doing this for fun not profit. Now then on with the chapter!

"talking"

"_talking quietly/radio depending on situation"_

_line from book_

_'thoughts/telepathy'_

**scene set up**

"**Demonic speech"**

**'_Demonic thoughts__/__telepathy'_**

_(explanations/ translations)_

_**A/N (author's notes)/Warning**_

**Chapter 2: Aftermath**

As many people can attest, conscious can come quiet suddenly. Naruto felt a hot jolt of pain rush through his body causing him to bolt straight up . He awoke to find himself in a place he had come to find quite familiar after many of his pranks backfired, the hospital. As far as he could tell, he was in one of the smaller hospital rooms barren save for himself (which was to be expected as there was no way in hell anyone would willing share a room with him). The lights were off and the curtains were drawn so as to block light from the outside and allow him to rest. Despite the dimness of the room though, Naruto found himself able to pick out details of the room. His clothes or rather the chard remains of what was left of them, were folded on a chair near the base of his bed leaving Naruto clothed in a standard hospital gown and some bandages.

_'How did I get here? And why do I feel like my skin was burned off?'_

_**'A good approximation given what you just went through' **_

The mocking voice seemingly echoed from everywhere at once and yet as he surveyed the room he saw no one. Or at least that's what he thought until the shadows seemingly detached themselves from the ceiling and coalesced into a barely humanoid form which floated in the air just in front of him. Said thing (for lack of a better term at the moment) was colored a dark indigo which seemingly faded into black. On the wrists of its long bony hands were broken shackles which had some sort of glowing rune on each one. On its chest going up to its shoulders were glowing bright blue lines of energy surrounded a circular depression in its center which seemed to resemble a glowing blue slitted eye. And speaking of eyes we come to our next glowing objects, it's eyes, all six bright blue glowing eyes worth of them. Adding to this inhuman appearance was the fact that except for its eyes, the rest of its head was smooth, jet black, and featureless. Instead of hair it had what seemed to be shadowy black flames coming from the back of it's head. Out of its back emerged a pair of scythe like indigo-black wings. On each side of its hips chains emerged made of the same material as the shackles and seemingly embed in its flesh. Completing this demonic visage was the fact that instead of legs, from the waist down was what looked like the bottom half of a robe made of pure billowing black shadows.

Truly this was no being of the material world and despite this, Naruto was not afraid. In fact other than the god awful amount of pain he was experiencing, he didn't feel much of anything. It was like he had seen something scarier somewhere and yet for the life of him he couldn't remember what or where he had seen it.

_**'Hello?' **_Said the creature waving its hands in front of Naruto's face its voice seemingly booming in his head_** 'Earth to blondy, did what little brains you had in that skull of yours get knocked out? Hm, wait that wouldn't make much sense since I can hear your thoughts and all' **_

"Um who are..."

_**'Quiet half-pint or the other mouth-breathers might come to investigate!'**_

"_But your talking pretty loud."_

_**'Damn I guess you got me there, well except for the fact that I'm not talking at all!'**_

"Yes you are"

_**'Do you see my mouth moving?' **_

"...Um what mo..."

_**'never mind...' **_it "said" with a huff before continuing

_**'Anyways, if you haven't figured it out by now, which I must say is pretty sad, then let me just come out and say it. I'm telepathic, as in just think and I'll pick it up, one of the perks of not evolving on this shit-hole of a dimension unlike your kind. Seriously though, why weren't you mouth breathers smart enough to evolve telepathy it's so much more convenient than what you use'**_

_'Because unlike some beings we eat food, sing, kiss and well I don't know just generally enjoy having a face! Seriously though who are you and is there a point to this whole little conversation or is this all a pain killer induced hallucination my whole brain has cooked up? Or on another note did I die, end up in hell like the villagers used to whisper I would, and your here to torment me for all eternity?' _

_**'Wow impressive human, you finally stopped talking out loud, and it only took me outright saying you didn't have to for you to stop. Oh I can assure you there's a point to all this smart-ass. Now then, I am the watcher and as for your other questions...well judging by the way you jolted awake you can be pretty sure whatever pain killers your getting are no where near strong enough for you to hallucinate, and trust me if you were in hell you would be feeling a lot worse especially if I was in charge of tormenting you. Unfortunately for me at least the charred council doesn't appreciate me inflicting any permanent or unnecessary harm on their toys.'**_

_'The charred council?' _Somehow he felt like he knew that name but for some reason his memory felt muddy and full of holes.

_**'Dear god the council said you had a short attention span but...oh wait the seals I knew I forgot to do something.'**_

Suddenly one of the watchers clawed hands shot out grabbing Naruto by the throat with force that was unreal given the bony arms behind them. His air supply cut off Naruto couldn't even scream as the Watcher with what seemed to be pure glee in his eyes reached back and slammed his other hand into Naruto's stomach. However before he could even begin to contemplate this turn of events Naruto felt a lance of pure agony shoot up his spine.

And then it all came flooding back to him...

**Flashback Konoha several hours prior**

The forest was alight as flames licked at the trees of the forest scorching and incinerating all they touched. Power, raw untapped power and hatred in it's purest form choked the air that night. This forest grown by the Shodaime Hokage _(first fire shadow)_ had once served to give Konoha its name. Now the only thing it served for was kindling for a funeral pyre of one life path and unknown to all the birthing place for new ones. Animals whether in fear of this unnatural disaster or its source fled in a display of mass panic running and trampling any and all which got in their way. All throughout the village the people stopped and wondered what the hell it was that made them feel like something had just up and walked on their graves.

And in the forest clearing where this all began the thoughts of one silver haired traitorous chunin had been reduced to two words, _'__Oh __f__uck__'_

On the ground nearby the forbidden scroll lay on the ground but no thoughts of its retrieval passed through Mizuki's mind. He was stuck on the image of the former dobe who when the dust cleared from the superhuman punch which had toppled the tree he had once stood on, now stood surrounded by a dark energy which formed the outline of some sort of demonic creature. Across its form raw power and black shadows sparked and radiated from its form. From within the cloak of energy Naruto glared at him through glowing slitted red eyes which seemed to see right through the cowering traitor. Emerging from the back of the cloak long hollow spines grew forth, and a long fox like tail of energy stretched out behind it. Superimposed over Naruto's own face was the image of another one which looked like the flattened muzzle of a bull dog but with tusks coming from its lower jaw. Its face was framed by some sort ancient helmet with openings on tops and sides which both long curving horns and long pointed ears came forth. Naruto clenched his hands and snarled at Mizuki revealing wickedly sharp teeth and claws in the place of fingernails. Surrounding him and the clearing where they all were, strange flames swirled like the eye of a hurricane devouring all and yet refusing to come near the remains of the shack where Iruka lay, knocked out by the shock wave unleashed from the force of the boys blow. Overall Mizuki was glad he had dove for the ground or he would've been killed by the kid's blow. And all through this Mizuki could only stare and wish he had never fucked with this kid.

_'How the hell did he...' _He never got to finish that thought as Naruto launched himself from his perch with a burst of power from his legs before bringing his arm down in a vicious elbow drop. Once again reflexes saved the chunin, for as he leapt out of the way Naruto's blow struck sending a massive plume of dust and fire up from the impact site**. **Mizuki had barely gotten his footing when 5 shadow clones charged out the cloud. Mizuki hurled a handful of shuriken at the clones which dispelled them on impact. Through the smoke Mizuki made out Naruto's outline along with those strange eyes which never stopped tracking him. Mizuki wanted to move, to get out of the way, but Naruto was emitting such a massive killing intent that his higher thought processes seemed frozen forcing his body to act on pure training and instinct. He heard Naruto snarl at him and he instinctively reached for his kunai holster as he waited for him to charge. Except he never did, there was a poof and the dust cleared to reveal an impact crater where Naruto had initially struck, and nothing else. It seemed he had used the clone as a distraction while he slipped away, proof that some remnant of the boy's human side, his tactical side remained and was influencing his actions. Something which sent Mizuki's thoughts racing a mile a minute as he stood their clutching a kunai and trying to figure out what to do.

_'Oh crap, oh crap,oh crap! This is bad! where is he?What the hell is going on here? How did he use shadow clone? And what's with that energy? Oh Screw this! I got to get out of here!'_

Before he could do anything though he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Naruto barreled out of the burning bushes and tried to slam his fist into his gut, only managing an apparently glancing blow. Glancing meaning instead of outright crushing his ribcage Mizuki was hurled back 10 or 12 feet with the wind knocked out of him. Naruto immediately tried to follow up trying to rend Mizuki with his claws but only succeeded in slashing apart a log as Mizuki replaced himself to get out of the way. Mizuki reappeared on a tree branch trying to catch his breath. He stared down as Naruto scanned around for him. Their eyes met and..."Naruto" disappeared in a cloud of smoke. A roar of rage echoed throughout the forest and Naruto charged towards him through the tree tops. Mizuki turned towards him took aim and hurled a kunai. It hit right between the eyes and Mizuki smirked in triumph. As it turns out a foolish thing to do as moments later "Naruto" exploded in a massive ball of fire sending Mizuki careening through the air right into a superhuman hammer blow courtesy of the real Naruto who leapt from up above. Mizuki spun through the air before hitting the ground belly down badly burned from the explosion and more than likely suffering with a few broken ribs from the impact.

He lay their unable to move as pain radiated throughout his body. He could only watch as the demonic form of Naruto landed nearby. He stared at Mizuki with his glowing eyes hate filled eyes before he stalked over to him and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Mizuki tried to scream out in pain contact with him burned his skin but was quickly silenced as Naruto effortlessly lifted him up and slammed his face into the ground smashing his skull and killing him instantly.

Naruto reared back as if to roar in triumph only to feel something ram into his stomach. Before he could see what it was he felt a surge of energy coarse through his body and he doubled over in pain. The last thing he remembered seeing before passing out was a set of six glowing eyes...

**Flashback Kai (end/release)**

Naruto's fist surged forward impacting with the watcher's face sending him flying back and causing him to release his hold on Naruto's windpipe. Immediately Naruto gasped for air clutching his head as the whole world seemed to spin around him. He turned to glare at the watcher only to be met by an equally pissed off expression.

_'What the hell was that for you ass!'_

_**'Hey don't give me that look you blond haired little fucktard! I come down here to undo those seals on you and what do I get? A fist to my face!**_

_'I...wait what seals?'_

_**'Oh for the love of, the council had me seal away most of your new powers on you on account of you going ape-shit crazy out there! If I hadn't you would've gone on a freaking rampage and leveled the whole village and we couldn't have that happening! That's why your memory was messed up when I got here! Anyways, I suppose we should make sure your brain is back up to par, assuming it ever was so let me reintroduce myself. I'm the watcher servant of the charred council and your guide on this psychotic little adventure you've decided to sign up for. Now do you remember who you are and what happened?'**_

Naruto felt the distinct urge to reach out and beat the living shit out of the freaky non-human thing in front of him but decided against it. Instead he calmed himself, took a breath and began to speak.

_'I'm Naruto Uzumaki and yeah I remember what happened, sorry about decking you in the face it was reflex I guess'_

_**'Oh don't kid yourself you wanted to do that.'**_

_'...S-so' _Naruto began awkwardly trying to skirt around the issue '_you used a seal on me huh?' _

_**'Multiple seals actually, ****I ****weakened**** the outermost one since it was messing with your brain and ****regeneration and ****crap**** but ****I digress**** you were out of your freaking mind at the time. ****You were only suppose to get a recharge and some enhanced strength and stuff but****my guess is that your "tenant" woke up and ****tried to use all that anger you were feeling to force its way out ****of you. H****ence your transformation out their.'**_

_'Wellthat answers that question, um do you know how I got here?'_

_**'****The council woke up that guy, what's his name? You known your sensei with the scar on his face? ****Whatever,****a****nyway they woke him up with their**** powers and he brought you here. ****By the way nice work out their you really did a number on the silver haired douche, I especially loved that explos****ive****duplicate****, ****you learn that in that scroll I assume****'**_

_'Yeah they call that great clone explosion I was gonna try it out later but...oh fuck the scroll! And Iruka-sensei and Mizuki and and H-holy crap! I freaking killed Mizuki!'_

Hementally screamed as the reality of everything finally hit him. However before he could drive himself into a full blown nervous breakdown the watcher's bony hand slapped Naruto's face with a THWAK! Leaving a rather prominent red mark on his face.

_**'Get a hold of yourself kid! Firstly like I said your sensei Iruka is fine! He's resting in the room down the hall. Secondly the scroll is also fine, Iruka gave it to the fossil** **who runs this dump of a town. And as for the Mizuki thing, the situation has already explained to the Anbu so relax.'**_

_'But I killed him!'_

_**'Your a shinobi kid what the hell did you think your going to have to do once you joined the ranks pick up trash and chase after lost kittens?'**_

_'Well actually...'_

_**'You can't be serious, they actually make you do that?' **_the watcher said dumbstruck.

_'Yeah at least at the beginning, I think its either suppose to be about teamwork or public relations or...'_

_**'Oh whatever, anyway like I was saying for the umpteenth time you don't have anything to worry about it. Your sensei already explained how you were tricked and how you were defending yourself and that killing him was an accident and how you fought with great skill and blah, blah, blah you get the drift.'**_

_'Wait a minute what the hell are you talking about Iruka-sensei was out cold practically the whole fight? How the hell...'_

_**'Mind wipe'**_

_'Mind wipe?'_

_**'Yep the council used their powers to mind wipe the memories from everyones mind and implant false memories in them. Trust me if any of the townspeople remembered that release of energy last night you'd have a mob of angry villagers chasing after you Anbu or not. Or at the very least a whole load of guards watching over you in case you decided to go all maim, burn, kill on their collective asses.'**_

_'So they don't remember anything?'_

_**'Well no, the fact is that guy is dead and dead is dead no getting around that. But as far as everyones concerned you didn't release any weird energy or anything like that. However those in the know about the fox are now aware of the fact that you know about the Kyuubi thanks to Mizuki's big mouth. I guess the council figured that you'd had enough of people skirting around the issue. Actually I just realized something, if I remember right the punishment for spilling the beans about the fox is death anyway so by killing Mizuki you in fact did them a favor. But I'm rambling, continuing where I left off, since your going to want your story to match up with Iruka's I figure you should know the details so you don't raise any alarms. According to him instead of going all demonic and stuff you sicked a whole lot of explosive clones on him which resulted in you passing out from chakra exhaustion and accidentally setting the forest on fire. Hence why your clothes are burned, why all those trees and crap are knocked over, oh and why your other now deceased sensei kinda looks like a piece of overcooked BBQ chicken'**_

_'Thanks for the last piece of mental imagery asshole.'_

_**'Oh its my pleasure really. Now then there's a few things that you need to know, firstly now that I've partially undone that first seal its going to continue to weaken over the next couple of hours. It has to, otherwise your body won't be able to adjust to the new power. Speaking of which as it fades your going to notice a few new gifts'**_

_'Like what exactly?'_

_**'Oh there's so many to pick and choose from. Where to begin...well how about the fact while you and I were talking your senses were being improved. Take a look around if you don't believe me.'**_

He was right as Naruto scanned the room he began to notice he could see the room as though it were daylight. He could detect the subtle and greatly nauseating smell of smoke and cooked meat from his clothes mixed with the smell of antiseptic and flowers from outside. Then there was the fact he could hear things from the subtle patter of footsteps down the hall and the sounds of machines in other rooms. Things which by all right he shouldn't be able to hear on account of closed doors or general distance and which combined with the other new senses left him feeling somewhat dizzy.

_**'Amazing right?' **_the watcher patronized_** 'There's also some other abilities you'll start to get as the first seal continues to fade away, and if you should decide to take up the council's generous offer what you have now will be nothing compared to your full power. We're talking some major ass kicking potential!' **_

_'What's the catch?' _said Naruto as he tried to adjust to his enhanced senses

_**'Ah it seems your learning, yeah there's a slight catch. To master your new gifts, you have to leave your village.'**_

"WHA..." Before he could scream out Naruto felt a bony hand cover his mouth before violently pushing him against the head of the bed. He then felt a cold and harsh tone echo in his mind.

_**'Keep it down or I will rip your tongue out of your mouth! I know damn well the Kyuubi could regenerate it so I know it won't count as permanent harm! Now whether or not it counts as necessary, I leave that up to you. Now, I'm going to take my hand away and then we'll see how things play out okay?'**_

Naruto could only nod numbly, scared quite thoroughly shit-less by the tone of the voice.

_**'Now that's better isn't it? Good, now getting back to what I was saying there's simply no other way to learn how to master your new abilities here in Konoha. And even if there was a way, there are a lot of people who would either try to use you or stand in your way.'**_

_'But I'll never become Hokage if I leave the village!'_

_**'So what? Its not the end all be all you think it is.'**_

_'Yes it is! They're the strongest ninja in the village everyone knows that and acknowledge them! Everyone looks up to them and respects them! If I become the Hokage then... people will notice me '_

_**'So that's what your dream is about huh, gaining the respect ****of the people**** hn...' **_The watcher mentally sneered at him. _**'Listen kid, ****being noticed and being ****respected**** are two completely different things. ****For instance with all the pranks you've pulled and seeing as for some inexplainable reason your one of the few blonds in this entire village, let alone being the only one who runs around in a bright orange jumpsuit that just screams here I am please kill me!, I doubt there's a single person in this whole village who can ignore your presence. Well that and the fact you contain the demonic being who nearly leveled this place the last time it was free. ****Now getting r****espect, is something ****completely different and something ****I think ****you've ****gotten backwards****.**** Your not going to get respect by becoming the Hokage, the simple fact is that the people who were selected were already respected by their peers. No****t to mention there's the horrendous impression you've given with your pranks and general attitude. Okay the prankster reputation is something you could shake off in time I'll admit but let me ask you this question, why do you give a flying fuck about what people ****in this town think of you? Most of them treat you like ****your not fit to live**** so what does it matter what they think? Is it because you have to deal with them on a day-to-day basis? Cause if that's the case then that's all the more reason to get out of here.'**_

Those words struck Naruto like a blade to the heart. Up till now he had always assumed he would get respect when he became Hokage but now, he wasn't so sure. And now that he thought about it why did he care about what the people here thought about him?

_'It's' _He hesitated trying to pull his thoughts together. '_It's not really about the town, its just that I want respect from...'_

_**'The people you think care about you?'**_

_'Yea-NO! What do you mean think care about me? The Hokage's practically my Ojiisan (grandpa)! He cares about me and so do Ayame-chan and her dad at the ramen stand and Iruka..._

_**'Ku,ku,ku! That's a good one kid! O-oh... oh wait a minute your being serious? Kid how hard did I slam your head into the bed-frame exactly? Cause I think I might have knocked a screw loose in your head. Do you realize how utterly stupid that past sentence was? You seriously believe the man who ordered the fact that you should be systematically lied to on a daily basis and gave you a decrepit rat's nest of an apartment cares about you? Or the fact that the people whose job it is to sell you FOOD care? For crying out loud kid they probably didn't know about the fox when you met them and even after they did, given how you eat like a hog they probably figure "Hey if we keep being nice he'll keep stuffing his face!" And as for your precious sensei...well kid think back, it wasn't Iruka being nice to you these past couple of months was it?'**_

_'N-No! Your lying! YOUR LYING! ALL OF IT! RAAAAGGGGHHH!_'

Naruto lunged forward trying to grab hold of the Watcher but the Watcher simply moved out of the way causing Naruto to launch himself out of bed and land face first on the ground. Before he could try and recover the Watcher used his strength to forcibly pin him to the ground despite Naruto's struggles to get free.

_**'Listen gaki, I can tell nothing I'm saying is getting through...' **_

_''Really? What gave you that...'_

_**'Shut up! Since you won't believe what I say maybe, if you heard the truth with your own ears and saw it with your own eyes, you'd see I was right. Or maybe you'd find out I'm wrong but in that case then think of it this way, "those fools you who threaten everything" the council mentioned? You know the ones who in your rush to save your sensei you forgot to ask about? Well newsflash they're called Akatsuki (**red dawn**) and they need the bijuu **(tailed-beasts)** for their plan to work! So by extension they're after you! So if I am wrong and people do care about you, by staying here you're painting a giant bullseye on all them and anyone else in their way!'**_

Naruto stopped struggling against the Watcher instantly, he could only stare in shocked silence at the being pinning him down. His thoughts were frozen, so much so he didn't even protest as the watcher dragged him back onto the bed. The watcher looked at his expression seemingly smirking despite the lack of a face.

_**'Well' **_he said breaking the silence**_ 'I have to go report back to the council so...' _**The watcher touched Naruto's hand with his own, their was a jolt of energy like static from his hand and Naruto had to bite back a scream as he felt something burn its way onto the skin on his hand. For a moment a tattoo of some sort appeared on his hand before fading away just as quickly.

_**'When you've reached a decision about where your place is in this world, call out to me with your thoughts and the seal on your hand will contact me. Remember though you have until midnight day after tomorrow to do so. If by then you haven't given an answer then the offer is void.' **_

And with that the watcher left, fading away until he simply disappeared, leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts...

Well there it is people the latest chapter, the story hasn't advanced much but at least we got an action scene! Don't worry the plot picks up next chapter until then I hope you enjoyed so please review! Oh and that transformation if you haven't already figured out is Naruto's one tail form crossed with chaos form (Darksiders), crossed with rage of the whatever from God of War (I,II&III), and with some bits Ormagoden from brutal legend. Well once again it's time another history lesson for my messed up chronology...

_The power of magic/twilight of the second age:_

_After humans discovered chakra and its uses mankind believed it to be the end all be all, the ultimate equalizer in life's everyday struggle. Yet they were not the first to discover it, the Aesir in fact knew of and were experimenting with it as well as other powerful forces (though it's unclear how much headway they made). These other forces are not as easily seen but when properly harnessed allow for abilities surpassing chakra alone. The first is chi which is the essence the life force of the planet itself, and like chakra is divided into two parts, positive and negative chi. Under normal circumstances chi is naturally in equilibrium as it flows throughout the world in natural occurring channels called ley lines or dragon lines. Through immense training individuals known as Sages have learned to harness its power and use it to increase their own abilities. But more powerful than this is the force known as Magic. Magical energy (known in its raw unharnessed form as mana) is unique in that while normally it is like chi (existing in a positive and negative state as well as being an external source of power requiring immense training and willpower to harness) it can also (in the case of certain beings most non-human or possessing some unique ancestry or mutation) exist as an internal reservoir of power like chakra. The biggest difference however is that for untold millenia mana only existed in minuscule amounts in earth's reality. But as the Aesir were busy killing themselves off in Ragnarokr events were taking place in heaven and hell at the same time which would have dire consequences. Long ago the existence of those who came before and their descendants had been determined to be a major part in the upcoming battle which would decide the fate of heaven and hell. However in order to give mankind time to reach that point a pact was forged between heaven and hell. A pact which stated when mankind was ready 7 sacred seals would be broken and the final battle would occur, with the council's sacred enforcers the last 4 of the ancient race of Nephilim (better known as the 4 horseman of the apocalypse) serving as the great equalizer in the fight to come. However with mankind apparently about to wipe itself out some currently unknown individuals decided that it was too risky to wait and see if mankind would survive. Somehow they broke 6 of the seals and caused the final battle to start even before the dust of the Ragnarokr conflict had begun to settle. Angels and demons battled in the skies unleashing massive amounts of destruction and magical power. And as this magic surged forth some of it began to seep into the ley lines altering the flow of chi as the energies interacted and causing the ley lines to swell and warp. And as they swelled, the very earth itself changed. Volcanoes erupted and earthquakes shook the ground up-heaving continents and changing the landscape darkening the sky and killing off many of the humans who had barely survived Ragnarokr. These deaths only served to make things worse as chakra from the dead also seeped into the ley lines warping them further. However it was the arrival of the horseman war which finally proved to be too much. Why he appeared is unknown especially given that only 6 of the seals were broken. Perhaps the charred council thought his presence would stop the fighting or perhaps they thought he could bring whoever started the premature apocalypse to justice. Whatever the case was the destruction he unleashed on top of all those other deaths was simply too much, and the ley lines literally exploded with immense force. But the damage this inflicted was nothing compared to what happened at places where two or more ley lines intersected at so called nexus points. At these points the massive release of energy by the multiple ley line detonation tore massive inter-dimensional rifts in reality. And through these rifts horrifying creatures who called themselves the first ones came, destroying all who got in their way. It seemed that the few humans who remained and even the world itself were well and truly fucked. At least until a strange being came forth from one rift. A being which the first ones and eventually the few human survivors would call Ormagoden... _


	4. Cancellation Notice

A/N: Hey people I'm sorry to disappoint you by posting this even though it's not a chapter, but I just wanted to give any of you who hadn't read my profile page a heads-up. This story is officially being changed to Dead-fic status. The reason being is that I accidentally wrote myself into a corner with this story. That being said I have not given up on the core idea of the story (namely a dark & powerful but still good Naruto with a harem type of mega-crossover story) but the way I went about doing it the first time around was not to my satisfaction. As such this story will no longer be updated but do not fret it is being redone under the heading of my other story Eye of the Storm. I hope you find it a worthy spiritual successor to this story and I hope to get some reviews for that story soon, especially if they come from those who read and enjoyed this story.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Lord of Daemons


End file.
